


Out for a Spin

by Neverever



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Classic Cars, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, SteveTonyFest, car shows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 17:10:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4271304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony goes to a car show with Steve but he’s never sure if they’re talking about cars or maybe something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out for a Spin

**Author's Note:**

> A SteveTonyFest gift for [Brockrumlow!](http://brockrumlow.tumblr.com/). Hope you enjoy this!
> 
> Big thanks to the beta.

Waiting for Steve, Tony fiddled with the coffee maker in the Avengers common kitchen. All he wanted in the whole wide world was steaming hot coffee and the coffee maker was not producing as expected.

Clint was eating breakfast at the kitchen island. “Stop it, Stark. Last time you worked on a coffee maker here it ended up making rocket fuel.”

“In my defense, it was perfect rocket fuel. I ended up patenting it. Made me a small mint.”

Deciding to leave the coffee maker to its fate, Clint changed the subject. “So what brings you down to our floor?”

“Off to Greenwich for a car show.” 

Tony was looking forward to this show in particular. A nice ride in the Audi convertible up I-95 with views of the Atlantic on a gorgeous sunny day, maybe some back roads if they weren’t in a hurry, though Route 1 could be a traffic pit. The drawback to East Coast living, especially in New York City, was the lack of good days and empty highways to take out the convertible, but today was too perfect to ignore. And Steve could be counted on for great company and a few laughs.

“Oh, want company?” Clint offered.

Tony froze over his coffee. He didn’t want to be rude and say no. But he had been looking forward a day alone with Steve. Whoa, he didn’t mean it that way. But this was his thing with Steve. His teammate and friend. Their thing. No one else’s.

On cue, Steve showed up, ready to go, as if he had walked out of a fashion magazine in his light green t-shirt and jeans. Not that Tony ever paid particular attention to how blue Steve’s eyes were. Or the way his too-tight t-shirt skimmed his chest.

Clint chuckled. “I see how it is. A thing with Steve.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “It’s not what you think.”

“I think it’s exactly what I think,” Clint replied, tapping his spoon against his coffee mug and smirking.

Steve walked up to the island and clapped Clint on his shoulder. “Hey, Clint. Ready to go, Tony?” he said. 

“See you guys later,” Clint said. “Stay out late doing whatever you do.”

“What was that about?” Steve asked on the way to the elevator.

“Nothing.” Tony replied, trying for nonchalance, worried he’d failed. Because, damn, Steve looked good today, good enough to eat. “We have to stop for coffee on the way.”

~~~~~

As Tony had hoped, the drive to Greenwich was warm and sunny, the coffee hot and the company hotter. For once, Steve didn’t bring up Avengers business. They talked about baseball, movies, the latest thing Steve discovered about the 21st century, what Tony was working on for the biotech division of Stark Industries, and disappointing television shows. It was a perfect day out in the summer sun. 

Tony didn’t go to car shows that often any more. If he wasn’t working on new inventions for Stark Industries, he was working on stuff for the Avengers or being Iron Man. He’d never been as much into collecting cars like a lot of his celebrity friends.

Yet something about these showroom perfect cars stirred up the old feelings he had for classic cars. He had lost his collection in the attack on his house in Malibu. Now, he wondered if he wanted to get something, maybe a replacement for the hot rod. He could always pick up some version of a Shelby Mustang if he really felt like it. He might need to scratch that itch to buy something big, showy, expensive, and frivolous at the end of the day.

He looked over at his All-American friend sipping his coffee and looking speculatively at the cars set out before them. To be completely honest, Tony had been surprised that Steve wanted to go when he asked. Once they’d gone to a specialty military show once with tanks and jeeps from WWII, and Steve had seemed bored. But this time Steve agreed to go before Tony had even finished asking.

“See anything you like?” Tony asked as they wandered through the neat rows of lavishly cared for American classic cars.

Steve gave Tony a sideways glance as a slight smile tugged at his lips. "Could be. There’s a lot to like here.”

Tony nodded. “You know, the cars from the 30s are over there.” He pointed over to a selection of Fords, Cadillacs, Dodges and other brands he couldn’t name immediately.

Shaking his head, Steve said, “I’m interested in something more modern.”

“Right.” Tony scanned the crowd and cars trying to find something Steve might interested in. Steve’s definition of modern wasn’t like everyone else’s. He put on his latest fashion sunglasses (the ones with the violet shades) and headed over to the 50s cars with their fins and chrome and gleaming leather seats and acres of bright paint and shining grills that could take out an army of HYDRA agents without a sweat. 

Tony considered that one of the many amazing things about Steve had to be how easily he blended into the crowd. He was six foot two, had piercing blue eyes and blond hair, and packed a ton of muscle on his frame. And yet, he didn’t stand out all that much. No one seemed to give the handsome guy in the green shirt a second glance and stop and shout ‘Hey, that’s Captain America.’

But Tony, on the other hand, attracted a crowd of admirers wherever he went. He was built for show just like the cars around them, designed to be a star wherever he went from day one. He glad-handed folks who came up to him, signed a few autographs, and posed for pictures with a couple of kids. And somewhere along the way a representative from Bonhams attached himself to Tony like a remora.

“Tony, it’s been so long!” the man said, shaking Tony’s hand vigorously.

“Busy fighting aliens and promoting world peace,” he replied with a shrug. Steve was involved in a conversation with an elderly man and woman on the edge of the crowd. He wondered briefly if he needed to rescue him.

The Bonhams guy kept up with Tony. “Are you in the market for anything? I know for a fact that there are a lot of sellers here.”

“I’m good,” Tony replied just as he reached Steve.

“If you want anything -- here’s my card,” the guy said, handing a card over to Tony.

Tony scanned the card with his phone, leaving the slip of paper with the dealer. “Sure. I’ll let you know. Hey, Steve.” He turned to Steve, who was shaking hands with the old guy.

“Thank you,” Steve said to his new friends. The well-dressed old man and woman waved to Tony and headed off in a different direction.

“What was that about?” Tony asked. 

“Nothing much. Talked about Korea -- that’s where Bob served and met his wife Sue, an army nurse. They live in Arizona, but are visiting grandchildren in the area,” Steve explained. “Bob thinks that Iron Man is the greatest thing since sliced bread.”

“I congratulate Bob on his excellent taste in superheroes,” Tony added.

Continuing on the way to the 50s convertibles, Steve asked, “So who was that man?”

Grimacing, Tony glanced at his phone. “His name is Kurt and he wants to sell me a car. Or many cars. Or just one really expensive car. Whatever pays his rent.”

“Are you in the market?”

“For one of these cars?” Tony asked. “I don’t think so. I mean, I like cars, but maybe not enough to take home. Now, if they were selling spaceships ….”

“So you don’t see anything here you’d like to take home?” Steve suggested.

Tony didn’t often miss a beat with anyone, even if he was hip-deep tearing apart a malfunctioning Iron Man suit and someone dared to interrupt him. But the Bonhams guy annoyed him, and he had fans all over the place begging for autographs. He didn’t need Steve acting weird. 

“Look, Kurt’s already texted me about the car auction.” Tony held up the phone. “Now I’m going to hear from Kurt’s Auction Posse about cars I don’t want for the rest of the day.”

Steve laughed and clapped Tony on the shoulder. “I’m sure you can ignore him as well you ignore me when I give an order.”

Tony immediately missed the warmth of Steve’s hand on his shoulder when he lifted his hand away. “Ha, ha.”

They walked up and down the row of shiny convertibles, big beautiful cars begging to be driven fast out on the roads under a hot summer sun. “These are perfect cars for cruising the highways in California,” Tony said appreciatively. He like nicely designed things like cars. And Steve.

“Were they smooth-riding cars?” Steve asked. He had his small pocket-sized notebook out and was sketching.

“Well, not compared to today,” Tony replied. “Suspension could be stiff.”

“Hmm, I don’t know about that. I’ve dealt with stiff suspensions before.” Steve looked very serious as they studied the Corvette in front of them. “I like smooth rides and rough rides, depending on the company.”

Tony nodded. “Guess that makes sense. Cars now aren’t like your cars from the 30s.”

“I’ve noticed.” Steve checked his watch. “I still like my motorcycle more than your Audis.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell, since I never see any of your motorcycles in good shape after they leave my workshop.”

“Well, I might be in the market for something today.”

“Please don’t buy whatever it is without checking with me first,” Tony pleaded. “I’m tired of the old junkers Clint buys.”

Steve snorted. “I was thinking of something upscale, modern design, fancy paint, one of a kind.”

“You’re not going to find that here.”

“You never know. I’m optimistic,” Steve replied with a smile. 

They walked through the 60s sports cars and finally ended up in front of the powerful muscle cars. Steve stopped to admire a perfect example of a Camaro. Because apparently Steve really liked American muscle cars. 

“You like that?” Tony asked in amazement.

“Yeah,” Steve replied. “I like the design and the horsepower.”

“You know, we could come back for the European cars tomorrow, and you’ll see stuff that will blow your mind.”

“Hmm,” Steve responded. A slight grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Blow only my mind?”

Tony did a double take. “Um, Steve. Is something else going on here?”

Steve cocked an eyebrow at Tony and grinned. “Want to grab lunch?”

They found a place to have lunch in a tent with white tablecloth-covered tables and waitstaff. It was a compromise, since Steve was thinking food truck and Tony was thinking restaurant with walls and an extensive wine list. Tony the Celebrity Superhero and Billionaire Philanthropist scored them the best table in the tent, overlooking a display of incredibly rare cars. He had his suspicions about why he got the table, especially after he noted the presence of Bonhams Auction Posse. But Steve seemed pretty jazzed about it all, and Tony could never really deny Steve anything.

Steve ordered his usual lunch for three people while Tony agonized over the menu choices. “You’ve got to make up your mind sometime, Tony,” Steve said, running a thumb up and down his water glass. Tony was immediately distracted by the sensual motion. He could imagine Steve doing that to him, rubbing the sore spots in his back muscles, possibly more ….

“Pepper told me you collected cars once,” Steve said after lunch was delivered.

“Sort of. A few cars. They’re all gone now.”

“Thinking of buying replacements?”

“Not especially. It’s an expensive hobby, and I know people who’d be far more willing to pay a fortune for the right car than I am.” Tony toyed with his fork. “I like well-designed cars -- good design is always attractive and compelling.”

Steve smiled broadly. “Good design should always be compelling.”

“Ah, but you’re probably thinking of the body design, paint, leather, the aesthetics. I’m thinking of the motor, the transmission -- all those beautiful things that make the car go.”

“And the engine running.”

“It takes a lot of design work and engineering to get the right roar from an engine.”

“And the right spark? To get the engine revving?”

Tony almost asked if they were still talking about cars. But Steve looked innocent, like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. “You could say that.”

They were unfortunately interrupted by a overly dressed man and his tired wife. “Tony! Tony Stark! What a surprise! I’ve been trying to get ahold of Pepper all week about this amazing opportunity.” 

Unasked, the man pulled up a chair, furiously indicating to his apologetic wife to sit down too. “Let me tell you what I can do for you.”

Even though he was an expert at shutting down unwanted conversations, Tony could not get the guy to shut up for another ten minutes. What was worse was that the man completely ignored Steve.

Tony was now beyond annoyed. The man and the Bonhams Posse were interfering with his Thing with Steve. And he was having a particularly fascinating conversation with Steve that this idiot had interrupted. Every time he opened his mouth, the aggravating man took that as an opportunity to hard-sell his idea even more.

It was Steve who rescued him. He got up, stood close next to Tony, and touched his shoulder briefly. “Uh, Tony? We’re supposed to meet that dealer in a few minutes.” He meaningfully tapped his watch.

“Yeah, that’s right. I’ve got to go -- Rich? -- someone has a lead on a car for me,” Tony replied diplomatically as he scrambled to his feet, briefly resenting Steve’s innate gracefulness. “Look, Pepper’s the person to talk to -- she handles the whole business, I’m involved in the R&D side of things.” He grabbed his chance at freedom and fled with Steve.

Once out of the tent, Tony suggested checking out the rest of the muscle cars. Steve took out the ever-present sketchbook as Tony talked about Camaros, Chevelles and Mustangs. 

“It’s nice to look at the cars, but I bet you’re itching to take one out for a spin,” Tony said. “Say the word, Cap, and I’ll see what I can do.” The odds were good that Tony could get anything he wanted at this show if he offered the right amount of money.

“Maybe,” Steve said, with the mysterious grin on his face. “I’m tempted to take _something_ here out for a spin.”

Tony glanced at Steve, who still looked gorgeous even after a few hours out in the summer sun and car show crowd. He almost blurted out that he would get Steve anything he wanted. Because he would, for Steve. “All day long you've mentioned you had your eye on a car. Which car? You never said.”

“What if what I want isn’t something I can buy?”

Tony blinked a couple of times. He did not hear what he had just heard. The man next to him looked like Steve, smiled like Steve, joked like Steve. But his Steve didn’t flirt with Tony or make double entendres. No sirree. But Steve was saying things that sounded a lot like flirting to Tony, and Tony should have gotten a Nobel prize for his advances in flirting science. 

And did Steve just wink at him as he put away his little notebook? Tony stared, his mind spinning.

He could play it off like he didn’t get what Steve meant. Or ask. But Tony never accepted binary answers. He went sideways instead to test the waters. Draping his arm around Steve’s shoulders, Tony drawled, “Having money problems, Steve?”

He felt Steve shiver slightly at his touch. “Uh, I’m doing all right.”

Tony tipped his head closer to Steve’s ear. “You know, you should always take a test drive to see how well a car handles on the curves, go a few miles to check how the suspension holds up and how smoothly it shifts gears.” That earned him a full-body shiver from Steve. 

“I -- I could do that.”

“We’ll need to check out the engine, too. Maybe a stress test to see if it needs work --”

“It shouldn’t --”

“Always look under the hood, Rogers, first rule in car buying.” Tony let his arm slide off Steve’s shoulders, running his hand down Steve’s strong back to rest on Steve’s hip. Steve flushed bright red from his neck all the way up to his hairline. Tony decided to go in for the kill, figuratively. 

“And if you really like what you see after all that, you can talk about a lease with an option to buy.”

Steve groaned. “Tony, stop.”

Tony stepped back, a smirk curving his mouth. “Never to try to beat the master at his own game, young padawan.”

Steve narrowed his eyes. “I had a plan, a well-thought-out, strategic plan.”

Tony suddenly felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff, unsure if he wanted the answer, in case Steve had other ideas. Steve could be hard to read at times. “Since I defeated your strategy, can I ask you what the plan was?”

Steve gave Tony a heated look. “What do _you_ think the plan was?”

Tony swore his heart stopped. He had the brief flickering hope that Steve did have a special interest in Tony, of all people. “No idea.” 

Well, that wasn’t true, because Tony was hoping that he was reading all this all the right way.

Steve shrugged. “The cars I could take or leave. When you asked if I was interested, I decided to come along, because I wanted to spend time with you.”

“Ah.” Tony was at a loss for words. He never had this type of luck. Ever. Even though he was standing here hearing the words straight from Steve. And Steve _had_ been flirting all day, right?

“We’ve spent a lot of time together, so I wondered if we had a thing between us -- like the kids say these days.” Steve rubbed the back of his neck and huffed.

“Oh, a thing? This is a thing between us?” The busy world around them melted away as Tony focused all his attention on Steve fidgeting in front of him.

Steve’s blush deepened. Tony would find it charming if he wasn’t worried about the outcome of this conversation. “I mean -- if you’re not interested, I get that. It’s okay.”

“Not interested? In you? Do you think I’ve lost my mind?” Tony laughed until he nearly had tears in his eyes. “Steve, I am much _more_ than interested. I have been for a long time.”

Steve said exasperatedly, “I couldn’t tell -- I kept throwing out hints for weeks and thought I’d give one more try.”

“Honestly, Steve, I have never been so happy about how stubborn you can be.” Tony smiled at Steve, drawing a shy smile at last out of Tall, Built and Blond. He leaned forward and whispered, “Hey, gorgeous, want to blow this popsicle stand?”

“And?” A worried little crease appeared between Steve’s flawless eyes.

“Escape the crowd? Enjoy an early dinner and long ride back to New York? Turn this into a real date?” Tony asked with a tinge of concern. Steve could still back out, after all.

Steve nodded, relief obvious in his face. “Yes, I would really like that. Actually, I’d hoped I could talk you into a date. That was my goal today.”

“Come on. Let’s go get the car.” Tony tugged on Steve’s arm, leading the way to the parking lot.

He walked on air all the way to the parking lot, not really absorbing what was actually going on and whether any of this was real. But Steve’s hand was warm in his and all of Steve’s smiles were for him right now -- so this had to be real, not a dream to be snatched away when he woke. 

“Tell me, did you map out an Ask-Tony-For-A-Date strategy? That was your famous plan?” Tony asked, finally daring to tease Steve while they waited for the valet.

Steve groaned. “You’ll probably find out from the team. But the short answer is yes. Natasha and Sam had pointers.”

“I’m flattered. Not everyone gets their own Captain America plan.” Tony replied. He checked his phone for the list of restaurants he saved in case he was able to talk Steve into dinner. “Anyway, I have some ideas for dinner.”

They got into the car once the valet brought it to Tony. Tony had barely reached the edge of the parking lot, when Steve asked him to stop the car. “What’s up, Cap?”

Steve leaned forward to slip his hand behind Tony’s neck to draw him close. “This was part of the plan too.” 

He pressed his chapped lips to Tony’s, and Tony grinned into the kiss, liking the catch of Steve’s warm lips against his. They bumped noses and the parking brake dug into Tony’s knee, but the sweet, needy noises from Steve as their lips slid against each other more than made up for the pain.

“Hope it wasn’t the last part of the plan,” Tony said after breaking off the kiss.

“No. It was a contingency, in case I couldn’t seduce you while looking at cars,” Steve admitted.

Tony squeezed his hand. “It was an excellent plan, Steve. It worked. I’d like to help you execute the rest of it sometime.”

Steve gave him a brilliant smile from the passenger seat. “Okay. Drive, Tony.”

Tony flashed a grin back. “Let’s see what this baby can do.”


End file.
